You've probably heard the news reports this week. I wound up being the departmental SME (Subject Matter Expert) on drones, especially when someone started speculating on whether or not this was a military drone, and then someone mentioned that it was ten feet in size. I pointed out the TSB is investigating and got the "yeah right" eyeroll implying conspiracy theories in full flight.

Thinking about it, I suddenly realized that the "drone" could have been a giant scale model airplane where the radio had gone into failsafe mode with the radio being set to "last position hold", especially if it is a gasser with a large fuel tank.

Did get one question that I couldn't answer: if you're flying a model airplane and it winds up being a fly-away, who do you report it to?

That's a really stupid way of trying to get another plane. I do it the old-fashioned way: I explain to her why I need one and how I'm going to pay for it -- wants versus needs and all that. Of course, I also have some friends who just go out and buy it, presenting their spouse with a fait accomple -- strangely enough, most of them are divorced.

I know one guy who used to boast to his wife about how great a deal he got at the hobby shop, at least he did until she had reason to check with the local hobby shop. That apparently did not end well. Lesson learned: never conceal, never lie about what you spent.

If you think about the dimensions the pilots were telling investigators about its altitude, and distance from land, it becomes very clear that no hobby, pro-sumer, or professional quad, hex, or octa-copter could be out over the lake where they had the incident. There are two likely scenarios. One: A traditional weather balloon. Two: A military UAV. The first is plausible as many are released every day from weather stations, colleges, and universities all over North America for research with many never being recovered. Winds at the altitude reported could easily distort the shape of the balloon into something unrecognisable from its original shape. The second is less likely but not out of the question as there is a full military air force base located in Tonawanda, NY, beside Niagara Falls International. No camera platform, commercially available, is close to 3 meters in diameter so this is likely to go away, if the media is smart.